The Present
by Madilayn
Summary: Jason decides to give Princess, on her 21st birthday, the gift she's always wanted.
1. Chapter 1

He wasn't quite drunk, just at the stage where his ideas seemed (to him) to be outstandingly brilliant.

As ideas went, this one was even more brilliant than the one he'd had on Mark's eighteenth birthday. He smiled reminiscently. That had been truly outstanding and worthy of his evil genius (and Jason much preferred being called an evil genius to any of the other tags he'd had pinned to him).

He'd managed to get Mark drunk, and the two of them had then proceeded to transmute to birdstyle, and spent the evening perching on anything they could balance on (quite a feat in itself given their drunken state) and then swooping down on unsuspecting passers-by in the complex.

Their fun had only ended when they decided that Princess, wandering alone along a corridor, would be their best target yet (which, in itself, gave a fairly good indication of just how drunk they were).

It was the first time they truly appreciated just how good she was with her yoyo. It'd been humiliating as she dragged them, trussed up with the yoyo string and their own wings, to Anderson's office. The long way. She'd been sweating and slightly flushed at the end of the long trip, but that was nothing as to the humiliation of the newly appointed Commander of G-Force and his Second, who were both a shade more usually associated with the Swan's uniform.

The fact that she'd been chuckling the whole way (to say nothing of when she had stopped to chat to a friend) had merely added a gloss to their humiliation.

Anderson had decided that they'd been punished enough. Jason just hoped that he'd actually managed to destroy all the photographs of them that had been taken by various amused ISO staff, and Mark had been inordinately proud of Princess (once he'd gotten over the embarrassment of the whole episode). Ok – they'd been drunk, but she had taken them out all by herself – thus proving the people who had cringed at the thought of a female on this elite team well and truly wrong. And proving to her teammates that she was in possession of a very impish sense of humour.

It had been a valuable lesson that everybody on the base took note of. Jason decided that it was really at that time that Mark had moved from crush to love (well, adoration bordering on obsession, was what Jason thought) with her. Even if he did tend to spout "duty" and "chain of command" every time anybody tried to get him to actually act on his feelings.

Now, years later, she was every bit as deadly – and even lovelier than ever. The past few months, she'd bloomed and all Jason could put it down to was that the war seemed to be over, and she and Mark could get on with their lives.

Except they weren't, and the strain was starting to tell on their friends. Only yesterday, as they watched Mark and Princess manoeuvre around each other, Tiny had muttered to Jason about how pathetic it was, and that if he had to put up with more of this, he'd start getting pointed at them, and could he borrow some feathers from Jason?

Jason agreed, but was at a loss as to what to do, other than go with Keyop's suggestion of a plank and Mark's head, or Tiny's of using a few feathers.

And that lead him to today.

He'd won a race that he'd long desired to – previous attempts had been foiled by the war. It had always humbled him how his friends would always show up to watch him race, and he always felt good that there were at least four people in the crowd who knew just how much each and every drive meant to him.

As a thank you, and to piss Mark off, he'd dedicated his win to her, and had enjoyed having her beside him on the podium, his arm around her, holding her snugly to his side. She had been laughing as she was draped with flowers and sprayed with Champaign. He'd been amused at the filthy looks Mark kept giving him, and his obvious jealousy.

Serve him right. The there had been no attacks for six months now, and as far as he could tell, Mark still hadn't done anything about the situation between him and Princess.

It was getting plain embarrassing. He was fairly certain that Princess was a virgin (he wasn't stupid enough to actually ask her), but he knew for sure that Mark wasn't (Jason could have told anybody who cared to know the exact place and time that occurred. Especially since it was the same time that he lost his – 18th birthday presents courtesy of the Red Rangers. It had been a very eventful birthday).

He also knew that Mark's obsession with planning things was usually his downfall – and he would have bet all his winnings that Mark was planning his next move with Princess. Mark, however, would probably be so nervous about it all that he would be discarding plan after plan in his search for the "perfect" one.

Some things, however, you needed to just go for.

Jason had been startled the previous morning during their training session when he glanced at Princess and saw the naked hunger in her eyes as she watched Mark. He hadn't been surprised, though. Nor was he surprised to see the look reciprocated when Mark watched her.

So it was, that at 3pm in the afternoon, just slightly drunk, Jason decided that he would give Princess something really special for her 21st birthday tomorrow. Something he knew that she wanted more than anything else.

He'd give her Mark, naked, tied to her bed with a nice big bow. And probably handcuffs and rope as well. He had absolutely no illusions about Mark's escape abilities. He was sure that Prin would be able to take things from there; she was a bright girl.

All it would take would be a little planning, and a lot of sneakiness. And if there was one thing he could do, it was sneaky

It was, in his opinion, the most brilliant idea he'd ever had. It would force him to use all his skills, and would make his two best friends happy.

And – even best of all – he'd have a win over Mark, in more ways than one.


	2. Chapter 2

The planning ended up being a little trickier than Jason anticipated and wasn't helped at all by his being drunk.

He knew one thing – he had to ambush Mark when he was already naked. There was no way on this earth that Jason would risk his life by actually attacking Mark and then stripping him naked. It'd take far too much time – and the chances of his actually being able to do it whilst Mark was dressed (and therefore alert) were close to nil. There was more than one reason why Mark was the Commander – but his fighting ability was right there at the top.

After much deliberation, he came to a decision. He'd challenge Mark to a one-on-one bout, and then, after Mark had showered (he had no intention of giving Princess a smelly gift), he'd jump him, truss him up and transport him. It would be made a lot easier that they were going to Camp Parker tonight, so that Princess could celebrate her birthday with her whole family around her.

He smiled – it was a tradition that they all loved. "Family" events – birthdays and Christmas especially, were spent in the mountain retreat. It was what the whole team called home, even though they no longer lived there full time. When they spoke of visiting "home" that was what they meant.

It was the perfect place for him to get his two best friends together; even if it was by force.

Now all he had to do was prepare his tools. He was tempted to use Mark's Sonic Boomerang to do the deed, but he knew that Mark's skill with the damn thing would result in him being the one knocked out.

He decided to do it the old fashioned way, and stole a vial of sleeping gas from the sick bay at Centre Neptune before they left – not a lot, enough to put one of them out for half an hour of so. Plenty of time for what he needed. He was careful enough to stash the rope and other restraints in a bag in the boot of the car – as was usual; all the luggage was going with him. Mark and Princess had elected to ride their bikes up; Tiny would already be there, the Phoenix with Mark's plane and Keyop's widget securely hidden in the underground hangar. It would be him, Anderson and Keyop: and they were two people he definitely didn't want to get wind of his plans.

On the way to collect Keyop, Anderson and the luggage he stopped at the Mall. One more thing he had to get – and he hoped that nobody saw him buying the length of fabric that he was going to use for his bow. He also remembered to pick up a card.

He already had her other gift - an antique carved chest that he'd found in a second hand store, the wood polished and glowing from use by many hands. He knew she loved such things. When he found it, he'd remembered when, not so many years ago, they had sat enthralled as she wove tales around the antiques at home, speculating on who had first owned them.

The chest was safely at Camp Parker, wrapped and hidden under his bed these past few months.

And tomorrow afternoon, he'd give her his special present.


	3. Chapter 3

Jason had spent the better part of two hours trying to find Mark, and was not happy. Usually, if he didn't want Mark around, he'd fall over him every two steps.

Now, when he needed to find him, he was nowhere to be found.

Mark's bedroom had, as usual, been immaculate. If Jason didn't know better, he'd swear the bed hadn't been slept in. Out of curiosity, he pulled out a coin and tried bouncing it off the covers.

It bounced three times before falling off the bed and Jason chuckled to himself. A sound in the doorway revealed Keyop giggling.

"What's your problem, shorty?"

"Mark'll kill you if he finds you in here."

"You don't know where he is, do you? I'm looking for him."

"Haven't seen him since last night. Flying?"

"Could be. Oh well, he'll be back before breakfast," said Jason exiting with his younger team-mate. "Funny though, he's not a morning person, and I've never known him to go out this early."

"Really nice day. Possibly forgot to get Princess a present and is trying to get one before he comes back."

Jason laughed. Mark's propensity for forgetting birthdays was legendary – Princess usually reminded him, but not for her own, and Mark was running out of excuses for forgetting. "Probably. I can't wait to hear his excuse this year. It had better be something spectacular."

Keyop sighed. "She'll forgive him. She always does. Mark's an idiot."

"You got that straight, Keyop. I think that's all gonna change very soon, though."

Keyop looked at him. "You got a plan?" he asked breathlessly.

"You might just say that. It all depends on me finding Mark. If you see him, tell him I'm looking for him, will ya?"

Keyop nodded. "Sure. Tell me?"

Jason shook his head firmly. "You'll know if it's successful."

"If it's unsuccessful?"

"I don't even wanna think about that, Keyop."

"Still think plank was a good idea."

Jason wandered off, trying to think of where Mark could be. Keyop's idea had merit – it was likely that Mark was out desperately trying to find a suitable gift for Princess, but, for some reason, he didn't think that was the case. When he had reminded Mark of it about a week ago, Mark had smirked (in itself something rare) and said that he definitely had it covered.

He was still musing when he passed one of the bathrooms and encountered Mark coming out, dressed, but with damp hair.

"Where the hell have you been?" asked Jason, surprised.

Mark blinked. It was too early in the morning for this. "Nowhere," he said defensively. "What business is it of yours, anyway?" he asked, putting the ball right back into the enemy court.

"I've been looking for you. Wanted to know if you wanted to do a bit of one-on-one later this morning. I thought my performance has been a bit off, and wanted some help."

Mark's eyes narrowed. That was far too much information coming from Jason. With the unnatural instinct that usually warned him against Spectra, he now turned it onto his Second. Jason was looking shiftier than usual. He was definitely up to something.

"No tricks, Jason. If we do anything to upset Princess' birthday, she'll have our hides."

"You think I don't know that! Why do you think I've been reminding you about this for the last month? I just want your help." Jason looked Mark right in the eyes, trying with every pore to ooze sincerity. At least he hadn't told a single lie to his Commander – he knew that Mark would catch that immediately.

The secret to faking Mark out was to always tell the truth – and hope that Mark asked the wrong questions.

Mark looked at him steadily. He wasn't lying, but there was something that he was leaving out. "Is there something I should know, Jason?"

Jason laughed. Right question, all right, but with millions of answers. This was going to be fun. "Probably lots of things, Mark. You'll have to narrow down just what information you're after."

Right. He was going to get nothing out of Jason. He'd try Tiny or Keyop, sure that, whatever Jason was planing, the other two would know something about it.

"You're on for that bout. Two alright with you? Then we'll be finished well before we have to go out to dinner tonight."

"Shit. I'd forgotten that." Jason swore to himself some more. He had forgotten that. "We'd better not damage each other too much then."

"Jason, you won't be able to lay a finger on me."

Jason just put his arms around his friend's shoulders as they swung down the corridor towards breakfast. "Don't be so sure of that, buddy."

Anderson sighed. He kept forgetting the noise that his children could make when they were together and excited. They didn't usually gather for mid-morning coffee, but on birthdays things were different. They did have some family traditions that they revered.

He took another sip of his coffee and spent some time looking at them all.

No attacks for the last month had given them back their energy. The look of sadness that usually haunted their eyes was fading and he listened as they discussed what they'd been up to and their plans for the next while.

It was nice to hear them planning like that. He made a mental note about Keyop's desire to start a degree in Marine Biology – he could help the boy there. Princess was complaining that nobody took her seriously – she was too young and a female. He had no doubts that she would overcome that problem.

Jason seemed to be riding high on his win yesterday, and was planning his upcoming season.

Only Mark seemed a little quiet. Oh, he was joining in with the others, but wasn't really contributing anything. Anderson smiled a little as he noticed him glancing constantly at Princess. Perhaps he did have plans in that direction. Anderson didn't know whether he wanted that to happen or not.

In all the noise, only Anderson noticed when Mark got up to refill the coffee pot. As he passed behind Princess, he saw him pause for a second, hand caressing the back of her neck. She jumped, and he was gone before she could turn around.

He put his cup down sharply in shock. That was so intimate, so familiar. Everybody stopped and looked at him, and he tried to cover his movement.

"Don't you think it's time that Princess had her birthday presents?" he asked, smiling at his adopted daughter. She grinned back, not even trying to be grown up today. It was her day, and she was determined to enjoy it.

"Mine first!" yelled Keyop diving behind the sofa where all the presents were hidden. "Wow – lookit Jason's!"

"Where?" asked Princess moving towards the sofa. Jason grabbed her round the waist and pulled her down again.

"I thought I was supposed to be the impulsive one," he laughed, tickling her into submission and then tossing her into Mark's lap.

Mark looked surprised as he caught her, and Princess' eyes glowed. Everybody noticed, however, that he didn't let go of her, simply moving her into a more secure position and pulling her closely into him. She, however, blushed rosily and moved away, but, Jason noted, not too far. Mark just looked stunned and as if somebody had taken away his favorite toy. Princess looked chagrined, yet also bereft.

Ye gods. He may actually need a bird missile to get these two together.

"This is loot, Jason. And you've never included "big" as a criteria for gifts before."

He smirked. "First time for everything. It's not every day you turn twenty-one."

"Keyop," Mark called. "While you're down there, rat mine out too will you."

"Aww. Can't I give them out?"

Anderson laughed. In many ways, they were still children, and he was glad of it. It said a lot about their strength of character that they were still able to enjoy such simple things as birthdays despite all they had seen.

"Start handing them out, Keyop. You know what Princess is like if she thinks we're holding back on presents."

Tiny smiled at her. "Yeah. Remember the year we pretended we forgot?"

"Oww! Tiny, I've still got the scars from that! Not one of Jason's better ideas."

Princess smiled primly. "You all deserved it," she said in her soft voice. "Presents. Now," she demanded, thumping Mark's leg, which was closest to her.

"Ouch! Remember, no hitting on birthdays."

"Then start hauling out the loot." Her tone was far too reasonable. It was the one she used when she was showing Spectrans the options of doing what she wanted now, or waiting and making her have to take what she wanted.

Mark noted how it worked on them as well as it did on Spectrans.

"From me!" said Keyop, handing her a slightly clumsily wrapped package. She smiled and hugged him as he gave it to her.

"Can I rip?" Keyop nodded, and she happily tore at the paper, grinning at the Discman and pile of CD's.

"Saw your's was broken," he commented.

She nodded. "Thank you, Keyop. I hadn't gotten round to getting a new one," and she looked through the CD's. "And thanks for these! How did you know I wanted them?"

"Saw catalogue where you marked them."

"Now me," said Tiny pulling his package out from the couch. He handed it to her and she grinned to see how neatly it was wrapped.

She tore at the delicate rice paper wrapping to reveal a pretty crystal dressing-table set. "Oh Tiny!" Her eyes were shining as she looked at the pieces. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah, well I figured we keep forgetting you're a girl, so I thought I'd remind you. Besides, I noticed you looking at these last Christmas and thought you wanted one."

She crawled over to hug and kiss Tiny, and then curled up on the sofa next to Anderson. "And I keep forgetting how thoughtful you really are. And you're right. I did want one. Badly. I always have."

"Jason?" asked Keyop. Jason got up and dragged his parcel out from behind the sofa.

"I saw this and thought of you," he said simply.

She unwrapped the wooden chest and they heard her gasp. "Ohhhh!"

"The guy in the antiques shop said it's Colonial. Inside is supposed to be the history of it." His voice was gruff, the one that they all knew he used when he was trying to suppress some deep emotion.

This time, Princess fairly leapt into his arms. "It's wonderful," she said, eyes glowing and teary. "Where on earth did you find it?"

"Remember when I did that race through the Appalachians? Well, on the off day, I had nothing to do but walk through the town. I saw this in an antique shop and remembered how you used to tell us about the antiques here. Then I had a good look at the carving on it and knew it was yours."

Princess hugged him tightly, glad he was hugging her back. Her kiss was warm and, to his surprise, right on his lips. He did notice Mark scowl slightly. She let him go and returned to her perch, but this time she was looking closely at the carvings.

"Birds!" she said in surprise.

"Look closer."

They were all crowded around now, and it was Mark who spoke.

"It's us!" Carved onto the surfaces of the box were representations of Eagles, Condors, Swans, Owls and Swallows, in flight and at rest.

"Jason, this is the most magnificent gift! Thank you."

He took the chance and gave her another hug. "It's nothing."

"Yes it is, Jase. It's a huge something," said Mark softly.

"Yeah, well," and Jason retreated to his spot against the sofa, feeling that he was probably blushing, and feeling a little foolish.

"Mark?" asked Keyop.

"Mine last, please, Keyop. I have a reason."

"Didn't forget?"

Mark laughed. "Not with Jason reminding me constantly. No, I haven't forgotten."

"Good. Chief?" and Keyop hauled out another gift from behind the couch. This was a large rectangular box, with two smaller ones on the top.

Princess took them with interest and started ripping open the paper. She was surprised when the first box revealed a silver evening bag, and the second a pair of matching strappy shoes. She looked at Anderson in puzzlement.

"Open the rest," was all he said.

She opened that bigger box, and pulled out a shimmery silver shift dress. "I…" she began and burst into tears. She turned and hugged Anderson. "Oh dad!" she said, reverting to the form of address they had used as children.

He hugged her back. "Well, you're old enough now to attend Federation functions. And I can't have you going in Uniform now? Besides, I wanted you to have some thing pretty to wear tonight. Tiny's right. We do forget you're a girl."

"But what if…"

"I've thought of that. Like the boy's suits, it'll transmute. The shoes gave the lab hell to work with, by the way."

Princess giggled. "Thank you, Dad. I love it. I'll wear it tonight."

"I was hoping you would," he said, trying to be stern.

"Mark?" asked Princess, her eyes steady as she looked at him. Mark sheepishly pulled out the small parcel Keyop had handed him earlier.

"Happy birthday, Princess."

She took the box and opened it, revealing a velvet case. When she opened it, her eyes widened as she took in the sparkling contents.

Wordless, her eyes big, she held up the pendant to the light, rainbows sparkling off the small diamond drop, and she bent her eyes and ran her finger over the matching earrings.

"I can't possibly, Mark. This is far too expensive," she began. His finger against her lips stopped her.

"They belonged to my mother," he said simply. "You're the only person in the world who I wanted to have them."

Now Anderson recognised them. He remembered Mark's mother wearing them on her wedding day – part of her wedding gift from Mark's father. He noticed the absence of the ring – the one that had been used as an engagement ring. He couldn't remember if Mark's mother had been buried with it on or not.

"Oh, Mark!" All they did was hold each other, his hands stroking her hair, her face nestled into the space between neck and shoulder. His arms tightened around her and he rested his head against her neck.

Then they were apart again, but both had shining eyes.

Jason was jubilant. He couldn't have planned this better if he tried. Mark had, unwittingly, put himself into exactly the position that would make his plan work out completely.

The Gods were smiling on him.


	4. Chapter 4

The Gods were not smiling on him. In fact, it seemed as though the Gods had decided to go out of their way to make his life hell.

And Mark was being Mark; which didn't help matters in the least.

His one-on-one bout with Mark (as a prelude to gassing and gift-wrapping) turned into a three hour training session. As usual, Mark took seriously any of them asking for help, and was giving Jason a blow by blow tutorial on improving his style.

Going into hour three, Jason was trying to find a way to end this and wondered why, when confronted by a teaching situation, Mark lost all sense of humour and became as boring as all hell. This was fighting they were talking about – something that both of them were very well matched with, and they had discussed different styles for hours on end (complete with demonstrations) without being bored.

He'd brought it all on himself, deliberately being a little sloppy (but not too much that it was obvious) as a way to convince Mark he was off.

"Jason, are you listening?" came the sharp voice.

"Yeah, got all that," he replied. "Promise I'll try harder and all that. Can we finish now?"

For the first time in the last three hours, Mark grinned. "We'd better if we don't want to incur the Wrath of Princess. Do you realise we have exactly forty-five minutes to get ready to leave for dinner?"

Jason looked at the clock. "Shit. Race you to the shower." Damn, blast, shit. There went his plan for this afternoon. Damn Mark. Damn his lessons. Damn his sheer pighead Comander-ness. He needed a drink. A nice cold beer would go down really well about now.

Jason made a detour to the kitchen and came across Keyop looking glum and unusually neat and tidy.

"What's with the gloom and doom, squirt?"

"Not allowed to move until we go," he said. "Princess said she'd kill me if I got messed up."

"Ahhh. She's making threats. She must be nervous."

"I've been ready for two hours, Jason. She made me get ready so she could check me before she started herself."

"Two hours? Oh ye gods. Thanks for the warning, Keyop. I'll clue Mark in. Tiny know?"

Keyop nodded. "He's already been warned."

"What did we do to deserve this?"

"Love Princess. Want her to have a nice birthday."

Jason nodded and smiled. "Yeah. I suppose that's it."

"How's plan coming?"

"It's not. Let's just say it's been foiled by Mark."

"Still gonna try?"

"It's not so much a plan any more, Keyop, as a crusade. No way am I gonna let this go now. There's always tomorrow."

"Can I help?"

Jason shook his head. "No way. If Princess found out you were involved, she'd be after my balls."

Keyop laughed. "Can't have that happening. Who'd go after the Spectran spies then?"

"Ha, ha. Very funny."

At least Princess wouldn't be able to blame any of them for the disaster the evening turned into.

There were times, Jason decided, when Mark was an exceptional Commander. When the Spectran attack happened mid-way through their main course, he simply gathered them all up and got the mission underway.

Jason was impressed at the way he managed to ignore the laser-beam looks from Princess. He was even more impressed by the way that, when they boarded the mecha, he just stood back and let Prin have her head.

Come to that, so did he. It was infinitely safer. At one point, he started to pity the goons. It must have been unnerving for those at the master controls to have a pink-clad woman grabbing them by the throat and screaming that they had spoiled her birthday dinner, and now they were going to pay.

What impressed Jason the most was, as they got back on the Phoenix after their lovely bout of destruction (and their Swan definitely outdid herself with the "boom" this time) and were coming down from the bubble, all Mark did was look at her and ask mildly "Feel better now?"

Jason wondered what their Commander would have done if she hadn't replied with "Yes, thanks. I do." Probably would have put her through a hellish workout when they returned. Or lectured her until she was bored out of her anger.

It wasn't fair. He wanted to give her his special present – and this lack of co-operation by the present (not to mention the universe in general) was starting to piss him off.

Tomorrow. There was always tomorrow.

Tomorrow came. Mark was getting harder and harder to find, Jason found. He was starting to wonder if, somehow, Mark had worked out what he was intending.

He finally tracked him down in mid-afternoon (apparently fly-boy had been off doing just that) in the kitchen.

And that was where it all came to a head.

It started innocently enough. Keyop running saying he and Princess were off for a swim.

Princess then wandered in – already in her swimming gear and wearing a pair of his own old jeans which she'd turned into cutoffs.

At that point, at the sight of her dressed like that, even Jason's mouth went dry.

She wandered over and leaned against the bench, next to where Mark was sitting reading a magazine while he scoffed birthday cake.

"Why don't you come with us, Mark?" she asked.

Mark didn't even look up. "Sorry, have to do the mission reports from last night."

Yeah, right, thought Jason. If he'd done the things instead of going flying, he'd be able to go swimming with Princess. With Princess looking like _that_.

She reached out one hand and put it on his shoulder. That made him look up. "Sure?" she asked.

Mark nodded. "I really do have to get them done, Prin. Next time."

At that, Mark got up and started to move away.

Jason snapped.

"Keyop," he said softly. "Hand me your bolas."


	5. Chapter 5

"How's your head?" The woman's voice was soft, concerned. "Should you be here?"

"I'm fine," responded a male. "I wish I knew why Jason did it though."

In the darkness, he could feel her shrug as she curled next to him. "All he muttered was something about a gift, and about the universe being out to get him."

"Ahhh. So fairly normal Jason."

"So it would seem. You know, Mark, for somebody who was out cold not so many hours ago, you're remarkably active."

She couldn't see his smile, but felt it against the skin of her neck. "I have unfettered access to the best restorative in the world, love."

She giggled as he moved lower, both of them assisting in removing extraneous clothing. They stretched out together, loving the feel of bare skin.

"You nearly blew it this afternoon," he said, nibbling on her ear. "When you came into the kitchen I wanted to drag you off and ravish you." This time she laughed, throatily.

"I was rather hoping you would. And talking about blowing things, what about your birthday present to me! Mark, it was your decision that we keep this to ourselves. But sometimes, I think that you want people to know." She felt him pull away and moved her hand onto his chest. "Mark?"

His hand covered hers, and he moved it to his lips, kissing the palm before placing it back on his chest, his own securely holding it.

"I suppose, deep down inside, I do. I want to be able to hold you when we're with the others. I want to be able to show I love you," he paused and she could feel his chest move with soft laughter. "On the other hand, it's been rather fun to play dumb."

She laughed as well. "Sometimes. But it's really been like tormenting poor dumb animals, though. I must admit, either we're much better actors than we thought, or they really are less observant than they should be. After all, we've been lovers now for a year, and nobody's caught on yet." Princess raised herself onto one elbow and poked her Commander in the ribs.

"Naughty Eagle. You may need to give the team some more observation training."

"Ow! That finger's a deadly weapon, Princess. And I can think of some other "training" I'd rather be doing right now," he paused and they kissed deeply. "I'm sorry that your birthday dinner was ruined," he whispered, and then moved and turned on the bedside light. Both of them blinked in the sudden light. "I wanted to do something really special there, love."

He pulled them both up. "I didn't give you your whole birthday present then," and he leaned over and fumbled in his pants pocket, pulling out a small pouch.

"This is the last part of that set," he said. "My parents used it as an engagement ring, and I want to use it the same way," and he pushed the ring onto her finger.

"Oh Mark!"

His arms went around her and pulled her close. "Marry me, sweetheart. I know that we're still fighting, and I know that there are a lot of people who won't like it, but my heart's not going to change. I'm sick of sneaking around. I want you with me always."

Her answer was a kiss, long and loving, and that one kiss lead to others, and before long, the two were entwined as only lovers can be.

For a short while. They were interrupted by a knock on the door and it's opening.

"Princess, I'm sorry. I wanted to give you a really special… Shit."

Mark shot up at the first word, followed closely by Princess. "Jason!"

Jason held onto the doorknob as he looked at the two in bed in front of him. "Please tell me this is recent. Like today."

"Actually," began Mark, "we've been together for almost a year now."

"I need to sit down," and Jason sat heavily on the end of the bed. "You utter bastard, Mark. You utter, utter bastard. All the hints we've been giving you…"

Mark snorted. "Hardly hints, Jase." Jason shot him a dirty look, only slightly softened by the soft lighting.

"Hints when it comes to you, Mark. You let us almost make completely and utter idiots of ourselves trying to get you two together and all the time you've been at it like rabbits behind out backs. I am so gonna get you for this."

"Jason…," began Princess

"And you!" Jason pointed at her. "I went to a lot of trouble to organise the thing you wanted most for your birthday. I wanted to give you something really special. I went through hell trying to get it for you. But no. Your present wouldn't co-operate. And the universe is out to get me."

"So you mentioned earlier," she commented dryly. "You want to give us a little more information to go with here?"

"I was trying to give you him," he pointed at Mark now. "All nicely gift wrapped and naked on your bed. Except that he was already there."

"Not gift wrapped," said Princess thoughtfully. "You really wanted to do this for me, Jase?"

"I even bought fabric for a bow."

Princess moved to him and kissed him soundly. "It's a lovely thought, Jason, and I love you for wanting to do it." She sat back again, this time she let her bare foot travel up Jason's back and tickle the small of it under his shirt. He squirmed and a gasp from Mark made him turn around. He wished he hadn't. It now fully dawned on him that the two of them were naked, and just what they had been up to when he came in.

Moving Princess' foot he got up to leave. "Jason," her tone was thoughtful.

"What?"

"You said that you had everything for your plan. You still got it here?"

"What?" came from the two men.

"I'm assuming you still have everything here."

"Yeah…" said Jason.

"Get it."

A repeat of the "what" outcry happened.

Princess sat up straight and looked at Jason. "Get it. " She looked Mark in the eye. "I want my birthday present."


	6. Chapter 6

Beware, beware! Evil Genius at work! Nancy (on the BotP list) made a comment that started me off with a little skit - what if Jason had failed with Plan A.

It's short - it's evil. It's the act of a Desperate Condor.

So – ignore the ending, and enjoy the alternate planning!

OOO

Jason, Plan A (trussing) having failed, deciding that lack of libido is the problem and coming up with (probably in conjunction with Tiny and Keyop) Plan B.

"Perhaps if we force feed them oysters and asparagus, with some more chocolate. And perhaps some mood lighting"

Result Condor is attacked by Eagle and Swan who are violently ill due to unfortunate combination of food and Jason's idea of "romantic mood lighting and atmosphere".

Plan C would involve Jason in full Condor mode, standing over them (Mark & Princess), gun drawn, shuriken ready, informing them that he was sick and tired of all this and if serious bonking like bunnies didn't start NOW he'd have to take drastic action.

Swan thinks this is a brilliant idea, Eagle is completely confused and takes out Condor, hoping that he can get his Second some sort of medical treatment for his strange fixation, shortly before being jumped himself by a frustrated Swan and Seeing The Light.

Serious Bonking Like Bunnies occurrs.

Condor, on regaining consciousness, thinks Plan C worked brilliantly, congratulates himself, and then retaliates against Eagle.

Cue Zark saying all is happy in the garden and fade to credits.


End file.
